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500 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt Glogau (City of Glogau) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | The note is printed in dark brown on a buff-toned paper with a wave-pattern guilloche underprint covering the left two-thirds of the face. The denomination 'Fünfhundert Millionen Mark' is set in large Gothic blackletter type, with the issuing authority 'Stadt Glogau' in a prominent central band. To the right, within a ruled rectangular frame, a vignette presents a crouching gnome-like or folkloric figure seated atop a rocky mound, rendered in a woodcut-style letterpress technique. The lower left carries a red serial number, two manuscript signatures below the text 'Der Magistrat', and a validity clause in small Gothic type along the bottom margin. |
|---|---|
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
Glogau — now Głogów in western Poland — was one of hundreds of German municipalities forced to print their own emergency currency during the hyperinflation of 1923, as the Reichsbank's output could not keep pace with the collapsing mark. By the time denominations in the hundreds of millions became necessary, the psychological shock had long since worn off; these were simply the numbers required to buy bread. Stadt Glogau's notgeld at this level dates to the autumn acceleration, when the mark was losing value faster than notes could be printed and distributed.
The watermarked paper distinguishes it from the cheaper, more desperate issues of the same period that dispensed with security features entirely.